Solothurn (CH), 05.11.09. Benjamin Leuenberger looks back on a successful
2009 season. In a Lola-Judd B08/80-Judd, the young Swiss competed along
with his teammates Jonny Kane (GB) and Xavier Pompidou (F) in the Le Mans
Series and the legendary 24 hours of Le Mans. After a class victory in
the 1000km of Silverstone in September and second place in the 1000km of
Spa-Francorchamps in spring, Leuenberger finished fourth in the
LMP2-drivers championship of the Le Mans Series. Back in June,
Leuenberger finished second in the LMP2-class in the 24 hours of Le Mans.
The 27-year old Swiss speaks about his season.

You finished second in the 24 hours of Le Mans and won the LMP2-class at
Silverstone. You must be very pleased with your season?

"Yes, I would say this season was my most successful in sports car
racing so far. I count the second place at Le Mans as my biggest success
in racing. The 24 hours are one of the top sporting events in the world
and you only get the chance for a good result once a year. We knew that
we would have the chance for a good result there, but eventually
finishing second was incredibly great."

In the LMP2 class of the Le Mans Series you were always one of the
quickest teams. What was the missing piece to finally fight for the
championship?

"Speed-wise we were always very competitive, but we had two technical
issues, one at Barcelona and the other at the Nurburgring. We finished
every race, but these problems throw us back in each case. In a
championship of only five races, this really hurts."

But you still won the efficiency championship "Michelin Green X Challenge".

"It was really great to win this trophy, as in this championship all
cars, regardless of their class, are counted. Endurance racing is all
about going as quick as possible, as long as possible. This championship
reflects the sport really well. In this season more than 40 cars competed
in the Le Mans Series, so winning this championship against so many cars
really made us proud. In the end, we beat even factory teams and
fuel-efficient diesel cars with our 3.4 litre V8-Judd engine. Judd gave
us a perfect, reliable and efficient engine for this championship. We
also clinched a second guaranteed entry for the 24h of Le Mans 2010 for
Speedy Racing with winning this championship."

Your team colleagues are runner up in the LMP2-drivers championship, but
you are fourth in the championship. How did that happen?

"In the first race of the season at Barcelona Jarek Janis from the
Spyker factory team couldn't race due to an injury. As the injury only
appeared after the qualifying, Spyker could replace Janis only with a
driver, who took part in the practise before. So eventually Spyker asked
my team to release me and so I stepped in for Jarek, as I knew the car
and the team well from the last season. In the special situation my team
and I agreed with the change because otherwise Spyker would not have been
able to take part in the race. But also the consequences for my own
championship ambition were clear to me at that moment. It meant, if Jonny
and Xavier scored points at Barcelona, I would not be a contender for the
championship, whatever the season would bring. This was what happened and
after Barcelona they had two points and were always in front of me in the
championship. I hope that one day my loyalty to the team and Spyker is
rewarded."

After several years in GT cars, you raced a prototype race car this year.
Was this a big change for you going back to prototype racing?

"In the beginning, it was quite different, as I had to change my driving
style and get used to the higher speed again. A Le Mans prototype
requires a cleaner driving style compared to a GT car, you can slide a
little bit more through the corners with a GT car. In a prototype race
car, you have very high corner speed due to the extreme aerodynamics. You
have to get used to it again, but after my first test in the car at Paul
Ricard, it went really went. It's little bit like cycling, if you have
learned it once, it comes back to you again."

How would you describe the difference between a GT car like the Spyker
and a prototype race car like the Lola from a drivers point of view?

"In the LMP you must push yourself more to the limit. You drive into a
corner with 180 km/h and it feels like you are on the limit. Then you
find out that you can drive the corner 10 km/h faster because the car
generates more downforce due to the higher speed, and this moves the
limit. It requires some experience, to find out the limit of a
prototypes. This is different with the GT car. You always try to push a
GT car a little bit too hard, but then it slides around and is not quick
anymore. In a prototype car, this is rather different as you have to push
yourself very hard to the limit."

You are kind of an all-round sports car racer, you drove LMP1 and LMP2
cars as well as all kinds sports of GT cars from GT1 to GT3 and even
Daytona Prototypes in the Grand-Am. Where are the main differences
between all these different cars and which one do you like best?

"One must differentiate between the LMP and GT cars. GT's are more or
less very similar to drive. In recent years I raced different prototype
on different technical stand, so over the years the differences were
fairly big. So I can only barely compare the front engined Panoz which I
drove during my time as Panoz factory driver with our current Lola.
LMP-cars are more race cars, more puristic. These are real driving
machines without compromises. A LMP car has an enormous corner speed, is
very demanding to the driver and makes a lot of fun. Prototypes are very
similar to formula cars, sometimes we archive even faster corner speeds.
But in GT races you have often better and harder races. You can fight
closer in GT car, so GT races are mostly a real lot of fun.

What are you plan for the next season?

"There are discussions in different directions, primarily, of course
with Speedy Racing. But it's still a little bit too early for concrete
plans."